Keith Hunter Jesperson was born on March 6, 1955 in Chilliwack, British Columbia. There were four children in his family.
From a young age Jesperson would torture gophers, crows, cats and small dogs. He was known to insert pins, nails, needles into the animals before beating them to death. In some instances Jesperson would tie two cat tails together and hang them over a rope, causing them to fight until one of the cats was dead.
Before the age of 9, Jesperson’s family moved to Washington. Throughout his youth and teen years, Jesperson would steal, attempt to murder children his own age and even raped a girl at the age of 14. His grades were never high and he wasn’t considered to be a good student.
Jesperson’s murder series began in 1990, at the age of 35, and ended in 1995. All of his victims were females between the ages of 21 and 41. He would typically strangle or beat his victims to death after raping them. His victims were usually prostitutes, with the exception of his fiancée. The remains would be dropped off at random sites, they were left unburied.
On March 30, 1995, Jesperson was arrested and charged for the murder of Julie Ann Winningham. While he was in prison he also confessed to 160 murders, which he later recanted. He also confessed to the murder of Taunja Bennett by writing in a bathroom stall and drawing a smiley face, earning himself the name of the Happy Face Killer. From 1995 to 1998 Jesperson was found guilty of 4 murders and sentenced to life in prison on each account.

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Keith Hunter Jesperson was found guilty of murdering four people, but is thought to have been involved in the murders of eight. We currently have information on all of his known and suspected victims. Taunja Bennett Taunja was murdered on January 23, 1990 in Portland, Oregon. She had been raped,…